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taron-egerton-wolverine.jpg

Taron Egerton Would Love to Play Wolverine in the MCU

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 2, 2019 |

By Mike Redmond | Film | August 2, 2019 |


taron-egerton-wolverine.jpg

Two weeks ago, I started hearing rumors that Taron Egerton will be Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of the X-Men, which I thought was random as all hell. Turns out the source of that information was comics writer Mark Millar making a wild prediction on Twitter, albeit in the context that he literally willed Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury into existence. It is a well-earned flex. But while the Egerton prediction could easily be a joke, there is a very strong possibility that Millar has inside information that talks are happening with Marvel. Egerton stars in the Kingsmen films, which Millar created and works closely on, so there’s definitely an open channel.

Fast forward to this week, and what started as an internet rumor has now evolved into Egerton openly telling Variety that he’d love to play Wolverine in the MCU. This might actually be a thing.

The “Rocketman” star told Variety at the HFPA Grants banquet on Wednesday that he’s aware that the internet is buzzing with calls for him to play the famous X-Men character in a reboot of the series after Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that the mutants would eventually come to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Egerton, for the record, said he’d love to join the MCU.

“I love Marvel and I love the movies and I’d love the excuse to get in shape,” he told Variety’s Marc Malkin. “I’d love to be a part of it, whether [Wolverine] is realistic or not, I don’t know.”

Considering we now live in a world where Mahershala Ali is Blade after he waltzed into Kevin Feige’s office following the success of Green Book and literally pitched himself for the part, any casting decision is on the table right now. Sure, Egerton looks so young that I’m genuinely amazed he wasn’t already in one of the last two shitty X-Men movies — If you replaced him with Tye Sheridan, would anyone notice? No. No, they wouldn’t — but as CBR notes, Egerton is in an extremely similar position as Hugh Jackman when he was plucked out of nowhere for the part of Logan.

Egerton himself has remarked that he may not be “gruff enough” for the role, an image which that might not be hard to shake given his recent portrayal of Elton John of all people. Ironically, this role actually puts him in a similar situation to where Jackman was when he was cast. By the time was given the role of Wolverine in the first X-Men movie, Jackman had a filmography of mostly musicals and stage shows. This was another reason why fans were initially ambivalent to his casting. If Egerton were to be in a similar situation with his usual roles, it might endear fans to support his taking the mantle.

However, the biggest selling point is this BossLogic fanart, which definitely f*cks. I went from “Him?” to “Hot damn!”

There is one considerable hurdle for Egerton though. Another actor who Marvel has been trying to rope into the MCU for years has his eyes set on Wolverine. Maybe you’ve heard of him? Fella by the name of Keanu Reeves. And this concept art also f*cks. Welcome to Double-f*cking Wolverine Day.

However, there seems to be a growing effort to cast Reeves as Moon Knight, which the directors of Avengers: Endgame recently endorsed, and I’m guessing they have some pull at Marvel. Call it a hunch. So if I were Egerton, I’d start making voodoo dolls of Keanu wearing a white cape. Maybe even go for the whole costume. This should help.



Header Image Source: Getty